James, 1962-

“Now, decades later, most of their names are lost to him, but he does remember his: Frank. Frankie the Drunk, they called him.”

It was his sixth year at ITT, the last year there, as it turned out. In fact, the last year working in one place for any extended length of time. A quote by Thomas Edison served as his inspiration, and still does: ‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.’

It was a small place. Back then, he knew everyone by name, but was close to neither of them. Now, decades later, most of their names are lost to him, but he does remember his: Frank. Frankie the Drunk, they called him. Most afternoons he would appear, often drunk, to sweep up the place. The owner believed in hiring the unemployable. Back then, there were more employers like him. Someone like Frankie can’t find a job these days.

He remembers little of him. They rarely talked, but after all these years, of all the people who worked there, he remembers Frankie most vividly. Why? He cannot tell.

“I was creating too many problems in my mind about the relationship, and that was inhibiting me.”

Biggest regret? I guess not pursuing a relationship with this one girl. We had a very good rapport. She was a waitress at a restaurant I used to go to; I worked there before as a dish washer I still hung around there, kept coming there afterwards for the free coffee refills. It started with a sentence here and there, and slowly developed into long conversations. We used to sit there and talk every night. She wanted to listen, wanted me to talk.

But I was creating too many problems in my mind about the relationship, and that was inhibiting me. Every day a different one, until it died. There was no one before her or since.